yellow moon
by quasi una fantasia
Summary: Her heart beats for him. —lightis. AU.
1. Night

**yellow moon  
**- Night -**  
**

_Claire_

* * *

Midnight was her only chance to love him.

In their dark and silent bedroom, with the pale moonlight as her guide, she devoured the sight of her sleeping husband. He was sleeping so soundly… so beautifully. Beside the little seed of love for him that started to grow in her heart as the days went by, this sight was what keeping her strong in their marriage of convenience.

She stared at his sleeping face, her eyes were full of love and adoration for him. These were the emotions he would never see on her face when the light of the day was upon them. Only at midnights, when he closed his pretty blue eyes to the world would she wake up from her pretentious sleep and do what she had been doing for the past two months. This was the little moment that she always looked forward to each day.

Tucking a lock of her pink hair behind her right ear, she leaned a little bit closer to him. She had been staring at him for a while now, but it was not nearly as satisfying. She had to touch him.

She raised her right hand slowly toward his face. It trembled slightly, and went still midair, just inches away from his skin. She sucked in a shaky breath and laid her fingertips gently on his left cheek.

She tilted her head slightly and smiled that genuine smile she rarely let the world to see. Just the smallest touch of him was enough to make her happy.

Her small hand curved to cup his cheek. Her hold was light in fear he would wake up should she applied too much pressure. She trailed her hand down to his strong jaw and chin. Her eyes fell on his thin lips, the lips she kissed only once in their six months of marriage, the lips she kissed on her wedding day.

The first lips she ever kissed.

She felt her cheeks heated in a blush. Pulling her hand away and putting it on her lap, she let out a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart and while at it, mentally beating herself for almost giggling at the memory of her first kiss. He would surely wake up if she had not held herself.

She glanced at the opened curtains of the balcony windows, seeing the full moon hanging high on the dark night. The beautiful moon, _the light of the night sky_.

A small grunt sound had her whipped her head back down at her sleeping husband. Her body tensed as she watched him jerked up slightly. She could not help but to notice how the movement made the muscles of his bare torso rippled under his skin.

The blush came back, this time way more prominent, as she remembered how the taut muscles had felt under her fingertips on _that_ night six months ago.

Sitting very still there, she waited with bated breath. Would he wake up? She was bad at lying. What should she say if he did wake up? If he knew she had been watching his sleep, _damn_, she did not know what she would do.

Very fortunately though, the sleeping male only lolled his head sidewards, sighing deeply, and that was that. She did not make a move for a long time, to make sure she would not rouse him from his sleep.

Unbidden, her mind wandered. Had he ever dreamed of her? Even just once? Because he was always there in her dreams.

'_Most probably not.'_ She thought dejectedly.

She put her fingertips on his bare chest, over where his heart was. Her eyes followed her index finger as she wrote something on his skin.

_Lightning's_, that was what she wrote. But she had known that it actually was _Stella's; _his heart was Stella's long before he met her, long before their parents decided for their marriage. Her fingers stilled.

_What would it take to make him love her? _

Shaking her head, she decided to banish the silly thought away. She did not dare to hope for that. It was bad enough that she had let herself to fall in love with him.

The bedside clock turned to 00:37.

She pulled her hand away from his chest and gently laid it on his opened palm on the bed, intertwining their fingers as best she could and slowly leaned down toward his face. Her eyes closed in on themselves as she kissed his cheek. This time, her touch on his skin was a firm one. This small kiss she gave him each night conveyed the love she wished she could show him when he was awake.

Unlike the previous nights though, this time her kiss lingered longer. She whispered an '_I love you._' against his skin before she ended it.

This was the first time she said _it_ "aloud" to him.

.

.

When morning came, she found herself alone on the big, cold bed; cocooned in a white blanket. She turned to lie on her side, facing his side of the bed and let herself lost in the lingering scent of him.

Tonight, she would love him again.

**::**

* * *

_Disclaimer: Final Fantasy © Square Enix._  
_Unbeta'ed.  
_...

_—September 26, 2012._


	2. Day

**yellow moon  
**- Day -

_Noctis_

* * *

He had been staring at the paperworks on his desk for the longest time. He despised wasting time, but today he just could not control his mind. Every time he tried to work on the papers, his mind always brought about the images of his wife. The wife he had not the slightest intention to marry.

It was a marriage for business. He knew it the moment his father proposed the idea to him. He had vehemently denied it; arguing with his father for days. Repeating over and over to him; _"I love Stella! I won't marry that Farron heir!"_ …Yet all it took was a phone call from his mother; _"Come home, Noctis - my baby. I miss you." _The sad and loneliness tone of her voice was enough to make him bolt right away from the important board meeting.

He had a fucked up relationship with his father, but his mother… he would do anything and everything, just for her.

And so, he finally agreed to marry this Farron heir.

_It's a doomed marriage_, he had thought as he stood on his marriage altar two days after the talk with his mother. He did not know anything about this girl - he did not even know her name; he had declined to listen to anything about her when his mother offered to tell him about it.

It was on the marriage altar they first met each other. He had refused to look at her as she was escorted by her father through the aisle, and even as she was being handed to him, and the whole time as they exchanged the vows. But his little rebellion had to end when he had to kiss her.

The girl had stood very still as he lifted up the veil that was covering her face. The moment he pulled the fabric away, she looked up at him. Those eyes of hers had put him under a sort of instant spell. He could not look away. The deep and burning hatred he felt for the marriage had gone, lost, when he looked at her eyes.

Maybe it was because of those blue eyes - that had looked so pure and beautiful; he found himself kissing the girl with a gentleness he had never even shown Stella.

At the end of the day, he learned a little more about her. His wife was Claire Farron, nineteen years old, currently studying Laws at the best university in the city. She only just started her second year too.

The second piece of information had angered him most. She was only nineteen. She should be out there; having so much fun with her friends, with her life, with her freedom, not getting imprisoned to this loveless marriage. What was her parents thought they were doing marrying her off to a stranger like him? He knew the answer - it was all for the sake of securing their business empire. Just like what his father had done to him.

He had took her to their new house after the little ceremony that was attended only by both families and close relatives and friends. The journey was filled with silence. He drove his black, highly expensive, car smoothly but his mind was a mess.

_Everything's a mess now, _he noted mentally.

How everything had gone wrong. He had planned to be a jerk to his wife-to-be; to give the cold shoulder, just be silent and unwelcoming throughout their marriage - nothing more than those because his mother had taught him to respect ladies. He had it all clear; the _woman_ he was going to marry would be about his age, she would be a stuck up, self-centered _bitch_ who cared about nothing but money and looks. If he married this kind of woman, he would have had absolutely no qualms about treating her that way.

But Claire Farron, she was far from what he imagined his wife gonna be like.

That night, as he felt her slender fingers on his back; tracing, remembering, learning the feel of a man's skin for the first time - he could not help but get caught under her spell once again.

_Such innocence. _He could not remember the last time he saw such beautiful innocence in a woman.

That night, he forgot about Stella.

**.**

**.**

The first week living with Claire, he found that she was one of those rare girls who could handle housework very well. He knew many girls way older than her in his life who could not even made a cup of tea in fear of ruining their perfectly manicured hands. But Claire was not like that. She waked up early, prepared his coffee, made a nutritious breakfast that tasted very close to his mother's cooking, and she would greet him with a shy, sweet smile when he sat at the dining table. She was so - cheerful; she brought a life to the otherwise cold kitchen. She also prepared his suit for work every morning. The house was always clean, neat, and tidy everytime he came back from work, and there would also be warm dinner awaited him.

Their morning would start at the dining table. They would eat breakfast together; small talks would be made even though it was full of awkwardness. He would drive her to her school if she happened to have a class in the morning, and he would proceed to his office. He would not, however, pick her up from school at the end of the day. In that case, a chauffeur would come and take her home. When he came home from work, she would wait for him with a warm dinner, and they would eat together again and had small talks that still also filled with awkwardness.

They slept on the same bed too, but that was as far as things would go; they only _slept_, nothing more, nothing less. This, sharing a bed, was something he would never have done had his wife was not this sweet girl.

Things went smoothly like that for almost two weeks; where morning started at the dining table, and ended on the bed. But one Friday afternoon, Stella appeared in his office building.

It was not that he had forgot about _her_, but she had gone since his wedding day; no one knew where she was as this two weeks went by. So at the time, seeing her standing there at the entrance of his office building, looking so frail and sad, had thrown him by surprise.

They ended up in her apartment; the old place he had known for ten years.

He came home in the morning to find Claire sleeping peacefully on the couch in the living room. The sight had frozen him on the spot. Had Claire been waiting for him all night long?

He had sat down on the floor with his back pressed to the door. He sat there, in the silence of the house, watching his sleeping wife. Watching the sleeping, selfless, loving, caring, beautiful girl who could do so much more than being _his _wife.

**...**

Things went like usual for the next three days. On Tuesday, he had cleared off his schedule after lunch time. He drove away from the Caelum HQ building to the small park that he used to visit with his mother when he was seven. It was an hour ride, and he found the place was as beautiful as ever in that cold February afternoon.

The place was so full of memories of his childhood that he felt himself suddenly missing those carefree, conflicts-free days. Everything was so much more complicated now.

_This has to end, _he had decided then.

He drove back to the city at four in the afternoon. He parked his car outside Claire's law school and waited. Twenty minutes later he saw her walked out of the gates. She was dressed in warm clothes, a bag was on her left shoulder, and there was a thick text book on her hand.

The girl had stopped on the snowy curb. She looked around her, probably searching for her chauffeur. As he watched her from inside his car, he allowed himself to devour the sight of her.

A rare beauty, she really was. Her pretty pink hair had looked so lovely against the white snow that surrounded her. Her small form that was buried in thick jacket and knee-high boots, the beautiful face - the eyes that had entranced him so; this sweet girl he had known for only two weeks then lifted up her free hand, palm opened up to the sky. Snowflakes fell on that small palm. And then - she smiled.

Oh how she had smiled.

It was so beautiful his own lips had twitched to form the same gesture. But he resisted it for the thing that he was about to do would definitely tear that beautiful smile away from her face - perhaps he would never ever see it again on her face.

He started the car engine again, and drove to where she was standing. She looked quite surprised, recognizing it was his car that had stopped before her. He opened the passenger door and she climbed inside.

"You pick me up today?" She said breathlessly.

He nodded in answer. His eyes were not looking at her, they were on the road before him.

She put her bag and book away on the back seat, and then there was silence for the longest time. She was definitely curious as to why he had not started to drive them home yet - he felt her gaze on him, but he knew she did not want to be the one who broke the uncomfortable silence.

He steeled himself one last time, then turned his eyes on hers.

"I don't love you, Claire." He told her, loud and clear. Her once curious look turned into one of surprise and astonishment. He did not stop.

"There's this woman I love. Her name's Stella. We've been together since we're in high school." Claire had bit her lower lip then. "I'm sure you've known why I accepted this marriage - it's for my family. Just like you, right?"

He breathed out deeply and turned his gaze away.

"It was foolish of me to even think for a second that this marriage would be easy; that I could just leave Stella behind just like - that. I am sorry for that. You are young. You deserve a much better man. And I am not that man, you know I'm not."

He could not look at her now, for he knew she had started crying, though silently it was.

"We'll have a dinner with my parents - I had told them to invite your parents also. We'll have a talk with them. Everything's gonna be okay, I promise you." He had paused then, a frown marred his face. "I will tell them that we both are not ready for a child yet; you have your school, I have my career. And even after you graduate, I can still buy you some more time. Just until you grow up some more and you find yourself your perfect man. Our parents will understand it later."

With his eyes still on the road, he reached out his right hand toward her cheek, and he wiped her tears away. "Don't cry... Beautiful."

**.**

**.**

That was all happened five months ago. And here he was in his office, wasting his precious time to mull the past instead of doing his paperworks.

He pressed his hands on his face and groaned out loud. He was so _sick _of doing paperworks. After that day in February, he had changed his routines significantly. He would leave the house very early in the morning and came home around nine. He would always bring something to work on at home, and then he would go to bed at around eleven each night. With those much workload at work and home, it was no wonder he had always managed to sleep so deeply through the night.

It was all for Claire, he had reasoned. It was better that way, so she would not get used to him and got dependent on his presence in this time they spent under one roof. It was easier that way, so when they had to leave each other there would be no pain and sorrow.

But as he came home that night, to see Claire sleeping on their bed; so beautiful and delicate, so lonely, he could not ward off the intruding thought that had been haunting him for a couple of months.

_"Who are you trying to fool?"_

**::**

* * *

_Disclaimer: Final Fantasy © Square Enix._  
_Unbeta'ed._

...

Thanks for reviewing last chapter: buchielle, Ryhka, G, Guest, NoctLightXIII, The Clawed Butterfly, and OPFAN. ^^

_—October 9, 2012._


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